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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my portrait and my hat-making! It truly warmed my heart =-)

Some of you have sent messages or made observations about the fact that I hardly post images of myself on this blog and it really isn't about shyness since I am quite comfortable being on a stage and in front of a camera, as well behind it. I just feel that this blog is about the work I do and create and also about encouraging others toward creativity...but I do know how important it can be to have a "face" to go with the "name" so I will post pictures of myself from time to time for your amusement! Now back to my story about the "Currency of Strength"...

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Well, Dear Blog Readers, I began to tell the tale of how my artwork came into being and I've explained it's origins. I suppose I can now begin to tell you about the process and a challenge I encountered...

When I first had my idea to create a new currency using images of American Women, I knew of a few figures I wanted to use. They were women I read about as a child and I revered them highly: Wilma Rudolph and Helen Keller.

I remembered the "fore-mothers" that my Wise Woman, Janet, mentioned to me and I included one I could remember: Nellie Bly. I also remembered reading briefly about Jane Addams, and I had recently learned about an amazing woman named Ida B. Wells, who actually crossed paths with Jane Addams! I added Amelia Earhart and I now had six "bills" that would tally up to the six bills of currency we have in our American money: $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100. My currency would not have a monetary value, it would have a "quality" or a "legacy"...a character value, so to speak.

I began to research the history of each woman to determine what qualities and legacies they left behind for women of today. I learned a lot about these amazing women and the unifying bond they share is that they all accomplished many great things in their lives BEFORE they married, if they married at all. I was so excited to see that many of these women achieved a great deal before men entered into their lives, and for most of them this was a huge accomplishment considering that virtually all of them lived in a time where they were EXPECTED to be married and raise children as the sole purpose of their lives.

I found several images I wanted to use for my collaged versions of "bills" that I made copies of and I began to paint backgrounds on watercolor paper for a base. I began to assemble the bills...

But then, a few days before the submission date, I had a realization:

Many of the images I was using could be subject to copyright issues! Oh, NO!!

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Stay tuned for the next chapter of "Making Art Currency", where I learn a LOT about Copyright Infringement and Fair Use laws and discover a 'Fair Use Hero' whose presence had been surrounding me before I realized it...you won't want to miss it!